Most Internet Protocol (IP) traffic is carried on fiber optic or cable networks. This works well when the cable infrastructure is already present or can be easily installed. However, there are many locations where it is either not practical or too expensive to dig up streets or run cables overhead. To alleviate this problem, wireless networks have been proposed to extend the reach of the communication network to locations that cannot be connected by physical cables. Moreover, wireless networks are generally much easier to reconfigure, e.g. to handle changes in data communication traffic.
In some wireless networks that have multiple protocol receivers, a data communications protocol can identify intended receivers. However, other protocols do not provide a capability to target a particular receiver. When no targeting is available, some receivers may miss some packets because they are listening to packets directed at other receivers.